"Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually"
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
Cartier-Bresson's description of Magnum Photo's philosophy fits well with Tom Böttiger, known for his curiosity and passion for discovering new artists.
In 1947, the now legendary photo agency Magnum Photos was founded by four visionary photographers: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David Seymour. With experience from the Second World War, they understood the importance of the image in communication, politics, news flow and popular culture. Today, Magnum still represents some of the world's best-known photographers, and over the years it has retained its core ideals and its unique image bank with a mix of journalism, art and contemporary images. Magnum's photographers share a vision of depicting world events, people, places and culture with images that defy convention, redefine history and change lives. Read more
For more than 70 years, Magnum has been one of the major players in photojournalism; their library is also a living archive that is regularly updated with new photographs from around the world.
A few times a year, Magnum releases subjects from its archive for sale, ranging from numbered and signed photographs to stamped open edition images. Tom Böttiger fell in love with legendary images of Elliott Erwitt and Don McCullin, among others, as well as several dramatic images by Weegee, famous for his photographs of crime scenes around New York in the 1930-1960s.
